Edit: Just a reminder that this is the last full weekend to check out the Kenner toy exhibit at the Cincinnati library! The exhibit will run until January 16th.
Kenner Collector is proud to present a new exhibit called Just in Time for the Holidays: Kenner Toys, located on display at the main downtown branch of The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The exhibit features Kenner toys and historical items spanning the entire life of the company, beginning with the late 1940’s all the way through to the company’s final days in Cincinnati. The exhibit will officially open on November 20th, and run through January 16th of next year.
This will be a great chance to see lots of fun and rare Kenner toys and collectibles from the glory days of the beloved Cincinnati based company. See your favorite toy lines from your childhood including Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, Easy-Bake Oven, and many more! Some of the rare items on display include Kenner’s first toy, the Bubbl-Matic gun, the infamous Daddy Saddle, and the Pigtail Play-Wig, just to name a few!
The library is located at 800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. The exhibit is on the third floor of the main library, in the Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Cincinnati Room. Check the website for hours. You can even visit the famous Kroger building (home of Kenner from 1976 to 1992) while you are there!
The Gooney Crew responsible for the display:
Pictured from left to right: Josh Blake, Joe Ilagan, Dan Flarida, and Steve Meister
The Kenner Collector toy exhibit is only one part of the Kenner and toy related activities the Cincinnati library has planned over the next couple months. From the library:
Another Kenner exhibit, Beloved Toys, will be located on the first floor in the Popular Library Exhibit Area and will take a fun look as people’s childhood memories of their favorite Kenner toys. On other floors in the Library, display cases will contain Kenner toys catalogs from 1966 to 1990, depicting the company’s marketing strategies of their products throughout the decades. Also featured will be a special case that explores the origins of Star Wars toys, with images of the first prototypes created by Kenner and presented to Star Wars filmmakers in March of 1977. Images are provided by Jim Swearingen , the principal conceptual designer for Kenner’s original line of Star Wars toys.
Smaller displays will focus on other Cincinnati toy companies like, Doepke Toys, which made toys of steel in the 1940s and 50s, Stuart Toys, which produced western miniatures and science sets in the 1950s and 1960s, and Poynter Products, which made humorous toys such as the Thing Coin Box and Uncle Fester’s Lightbulb. Both toys were featured on the 1960s’ show The Adams Family.
There will also be toys on display by Bang Zoom Design, a Cincinnati product invention company that carries on the spirit of toy making here in the Queen City. Bang Zoom, based in Eden Park since 1991, has made many designs for toy lines including Elmo, Monsters University, and Dora the Explorer.
Finally, learn the origins of three toys that got their start here in the Greater Cincinnati area: the Magic Eight Ball, Uno Cards, and Pound Puppies. All exhibits start on Friday November 20th and run until Saturday Jan 16th.
Also, save December 12th on your calendar for Kenner Day at the Cincinnati Library!
On Saturday December 12th the Main Library will host a day-long symposium with Kenner employees and executives who will give an insider’s look into this innovative company. Also showing will be the documentary Plastic Galaxy The Story of Star Wars Toys which examines the history and pop-culture impact of Kenner’s Star Wars toy line.
Complete details can be found here at the Library website.
